Asked to single out pertinent threats to the United States, Woolsey [former CIA chief James Woolsey ] cited what he called "the oil weapon": Petroleum was the reason for the 1991 Gulf War, he said and, if anything, the United States has become more dependent on oil from the Middle East in the last decade.

Reducing the United States' increasing reliance on the Middle East for oil should be a "strategic imperative," he said.

A MAJOR ENERGY SHORTAGE IN THE USA WOULD BE A DISASTER JUST RANKING BELOW NUCLEAR WAR

Thus, it is essential that the United States has access to huge quantities of oil, and it has to come from somewhere. A major oil shortage in the United States would be a catastrophe, ranking just below nuclear war. There is a near total dependency on oil for transportation and food production. If these two industries are severely crippled, the results will be apocalyptic, dwarfing a surely related collapse in an already inflated stock market. With this in mind, it would appear wise to consider the worlds oil supply and its dependability, beginning with the United States.

GREAT SUPPLIES OF OIL ARE ESSENTIAL FOR STABILITY BUT A SHORTAGE IS COMING

The spectacular performance of the US economy is the result of free enterprise optimism, but it is powered by oil, billions of barrels of it. Oil is the Achilles heel of Western civilization, and this is particularly true for the United States. Great quantities of oil have to keep coming, or the US and the world economy will collapse. Oil is finite. The world has been almost entirely explored for oil, with ever-diminishing results. An oil supply crisis appears inevitable. Only the timing is in doubt. As to possible remedies, obviously research to provide oil substitutes should be encouraged, but also conservation and exploitation should proceed. Regardless of when a supply crisis occurs, oil is too valuable to waste and it is too valuable to leave in the ground. Also, oil is fungible, anyones will suffice. Sanctions now and a seller with a long memory may favor other customers later. Petrophobia is the unreasoned fear of the dreadful oil. But when the dreadful oil becomes scarce, the fear will become real.